The 2020-2021 school year so far has undoubtedly been… different. The sea of masks is one thing, but the lack of seniors staying throughout the whole day is something different in itself. This year, many seniors have decided to shorten their schedules. After spending the day in classes required to graduate, seniors with shortened schedules are permitted to leave campus. Numerous students have taken this opportunity and come to school with just a few hours on their hands, leaving campus as soon as possible. 

Senior Ruthann Kimbrel explained her reasoning behind shortening her schedule for the second semester. 

“I wanted to focus on the more ‘important’ classes,” Kimbrel said. “The ones that would allow me to graduate. I was kinda in the mindset of ‘Well what’s the point of sitting through seven classes when I don’t need all of them to graduate and since I’m not doing Winter Guard.’” 

Another senior shortening their schedule is Sarah Skelly, spoke about why she chose to shorten her schedule for the second semester.                                                                                                                                                                   

“I decided I wanted a shortened schedule when I spoke to my counselor a few weeks ago and realized I was overworking myself for no reason,” Skelly said. “I have all my credits completed and am only staying in school for five hours to stay in band and complete my AP classes before the AP exams.” 

Skelly decided to tackle her senior year and make it run as smoothly as possible.

“I prioritized my AP classes, band, and a class I was interested in,” Skelly said. “This is because I really wanted to have a relaxed but still interesting senior year. I figured it would be best to not drop my AP classes because the exams for those classes are in May, and I didn’t want to drop band because that’s been one of my passions since middle school.”

Furthermore, senior Dylan Miller shared his idea behind planning on having a shortened schedule since he stepped into FHC. 

“I realized I wanted a shortened schedule when I first went to high school,” Miller said. “I saw all the math classes and science classes that I had to take and realized, ‘Man if I could just… not do this.’” 

 A majority of the seniors who shortened their schedules decided to based on the fact that after finishing a few classes, they have time for other out of school things like work or sports.

  “…With a job I think [having a shortened schedule] would be easier to get more time in at work,” Kimbrel said. “And when I’m off work it’d give me more time at home to get chores and homework finished so I can have time to relax.”

Skelly commented on the advantage of leaving early and how it will affect her second semester.

“I’ll be able to go home and complete my homework so I can have more free time in the evenings,” Skelly said. “I’ll probably be able to sleep more since I won’t be staying up as late at night while doing homework.” 

Miller elaborated on one of the particular advantages to his condensed day. 

“An advantage, however, as someone who has a job, [is that] I get to go to work a lot     earlier,” Miller said. 

Kimbrel also expanded on one advantage of her shortened schedule and how it reduces stress after school. 

“You don’t have a lot of homework to worry about when you get home,” Kimbrel said. “And if you do take a study hall, you can just do homework there and relax the rest of the day.” 

Seniors with shortened schedules tend to be less stressed and have much more time for out of school activities and work. When students realize they have all their credits needed to graduate, besides a few, they usually go down the shortened schedule path, with the reasoning: “Why be here longer than I have to?”